San Francisco mayor proposes spending $34M on police

San Francisco's mayor wants the city to hire hundreds of new police officers and spend about $34 million over the next two years to pay for it.

With the backdrop of a police academy in the background, Mayor Mark Farrell announced on Tuesday alongside Police Chief Bill Scott that he wants $22 million of that money to hire 250 additional police officers. He also would like $7.5 million to buy new police vehicles, and $3 million set aside for Tasers. He also wants to earmark $ 1.7 million to continue implementing the police reforms recommended by the Justice Department under President Obama.

“These increased officers will be more than a deterrent,” Farrell said.

Scott said the extra resources would be greatly needed to increase the department’s “foot patrols” and make the city streets safer for everyone. 

The money in this budget proposal would also allow the department to promote more officers to supervisory roles and create 20 new sergeant and  two lieutenant positions.

San Francisco police currently have about 1,800 officers who do regular police work like patrols and investigations. The city's charter says San Francisco is supposed to have more than 1,900 full duty officers 

The mayor will have to present this budget proposal to the full board of supervisors on June 1.